


One Of His

by tielan



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Post-Movie(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-25
Updated: 2014-07-25
Packaged: 2018-02-10 09:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2019468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/pseuds/tielan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Attracted or not, in the public eye or hidden away, beautiful dame or competent terror, Maria Hill is one of his.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Of His

**Author's Note:**

> A tumblr request: _A "Captain Hill" request for something after CATWS, making sense of a post-Hydra-reveal world and supporting each other._

The bar is noisy and full, but not crowded. It takes Steve longer to spot Maria than he expects - two surveys of the room and a hard squint when he thinks he’s spotted her. Then it’s just a question of getting over to her corner.

"Come here often?"

"Pick up better pick up lines." She nudges the extra bottle on the small table towards him, never taking her eyes off the game on the TV across the bar. "Did Wilson dress you?"

"Why does everyone assume that Sam—Okay, yes,he did," he concedes when she tilts her head to look at him. "Apparently scruffy is in."

"In this bar, it is." She takes a swig of cider and relaxes back against the wall. "What was so urgent that you felt you needed to see me tonight?"

"You."

"Excuse me?"

"I came to see you." He’s straightforward about it - Sam’s advice:  _Ambush her and she’ll take you down without mercy. But if she sees you incoming, she’ll either let you approach or wave you off. Either way, you’ll know._

Maria is looking at him. Staring at him, in fact, like she’s never seen him before. “What about?”

"You."

"Me?"

"Yeah." Steve takes a sip of his beer - warm and golden, with a distinct malty flavour. “I’m worried about you.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t think of anyone else who does.”

She blinks twice. Takes another gulp of cider. Stares at the label for a long moment, then looks up when a team on the television scores and the bar erupts in cheers. Steve waits. He’s been waiting a while – all the months since he first came to SHIELD – watching her work, judging his moments, questioning his sanity.

Other women made it clear they were interested in him – anything, anytime, any place; Maria exchanged greetings in the corridors, conversed about missions and outcomes, and made recommendations when he asked for them. Nothing more.

“I don’t need looking after, Rogers.”

“No,” he agrees. “That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t offer.”

There was hurt on Fury’s face when Maria agreed that SHIELD needed to come down – a moment of shock before he covered it by appealing to Natasha and Sam. Steve heard the anguish in her voice when he ordered her to set the program in motion at the probable cost of his life – a hard ask of a colleague and a harder one of a friend. But it had still taken her visiting the hospital dressed for her interview at Stark Industries for him to see the price of Maria’s actions.

“I’m okay,” she says after a moment. “Busy and a little short-tempered thanks to dealing with the Inquiry, but otherwise okay. No looking after needed.”

“Maybe not needed,” he agrees. “But here if you want it. Ever.”

Maria studies him, not quite suspicious, but not easily accepting either. “Why?”

Because Steve took down an organisation to which he had marginal ties – common goals, yes, but mostly a loyalty by proxy because of Peggy and Howard. Maria took down an organisation that was her past, her present, and which should have been her future. And she did it on Steve’s say-so.

So, attracted or not, in the public eye or hidden away, beautiful dame or competent terror, Maria Hill is one of  _his_ .

But that’s not an easy thing to explain.

“We’re fighters,” he tells her, “you and me. We don’t find it easy to let people in under our guard. But when we do, we look after them.”

“I’m in under your guard?”

“Yes.”

She blinks at his very definite answer, then looks away. There might be a blush on her cheek. There’s certainly one making its way down Steve’s nape. Across the room, someone hollers, and it’s an excuse to turn away from her, to give them both a moment of privacy. A touch on his hand brings his attention back.

“Steve.” Maria’s eyes are more violet than blue in this light, oddly tinted in the neon lighting of the bar. “Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Steve moves before he lets himself think about it, lacing his fingers with hers and squeezing lightly. “You do that, Maria.”

He feels her tense, as though she’s going to pull away, and loosens his grip so she can.

Against all expectations, she relaxes, leaving her hand in his. Her eyes meet his and hold for a moment, then glance away. 

Steve tries not to grin like an infatuated idiot as they sit with their hands enmeshed on the table.

He knows he’s failing even before he sees Maria rolling her eyes, but she doesn’t take her hand away. She doesn’t pull away when she starts a conversation about his plans for hunting Bucky. She doesn’t pull away when he tells her where they’ve looked and what they’re looking for, or when one of the waitresses comes by to take their empty bottles and bring them new ones.

She doesn’t pull away later, either, out in the shadows of the parking lot with his mouth soft and tender on hers. 


End file.
